84 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



forms together. Temminck divides them into two sec- 

 tions, those of the Old, and those of the New World ; 

 while, by Cuvier, they are arranged according to the 

 presence or want of spots, and by the distribution and 

 form of these upon the skin ; the latter arrangement 

 has been followed in most of the later systems, and 

 will be found more extended in Desmarest's Mam- 

 malogie, where there are seven subdivisions, in which 

 the form of the ears is also included. 



The Linnaean genus Felis, to which we have in 

 the present volume applied the family name of Fe- 

 linae, is a group containing nearly fifty species, of 

 which all the characters, though very closely assimi- 

 lated,* at the same time exhibit a variety of subor- 

 dinate forms, which diverge from the typical genus, 

 and show an alliance with the other sub-families of 

 the Carnivora. The Prince of Musignano, in his fa- 

 mily Felina, admits Proteles, Hycena, and Priono- 

 don. In restricting it, as we at present do, to the 

 Linnsean Felis, we may be wrong, from being unable 

 to examine many of the aberrant forms of what we 

 consider Felinae, and also those of the other families ; 

 but none of the above mentioned genera, we would 

 say, can rank here, while they appear to have beau- 

 tiful and appropriate stations elsewhere. 



The Linnsean genus Felis has also, by different 

 naturalists, been subdivided ; the title Felis being 

 retained for Tiger, Leopard, &c., which seem to 



* La genre des Chats, est Tun des plus rigoureusement 

 determines du Regne Animal. Cuv. Oss. Foss. 



